


Counting Sheep

by Broken_Clover



Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: Bedlamb, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Inspired by Fanart, literally and metaphorically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 12:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15557586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: Axl finds himself in an odd field with some familiar-looking sheep.





	Counting Sheep

**Author's Note:**

> I take no credit for this, the concept came from the fantastic GG artist Biiguru on Tumblr/Twitter, please look at their work, it's terrific! I fell in love with their Sheep Bedman/Bedlamb drawings and just had to write this!
> 
> ...And no, I don't know why I've been writing so much Axl lately. Just kinda happened?

Axl wasn’t entirely sure how it was that he wound up in a field. The most logical explanation was that he must have slipped off through time again. Even with that, the environment around him offered little indication as to where and when on Earth he must have been.

Last thing he could remember was finding a bar and wandering in for a few drinks. Maybe he had gotten a bit too drunk and forgotten the timeslip. It wouldn’t have been the first time. 

At the very least, he hadn’t been dropped into someplace incredibly dangerous. The meadow was empty and quiet, aside from the chirping of distant birds. Depending on how he looked at it, though, he also didn’t know where the heck he was, so that was a definite concern. Might as well figure out what kind of timeframe he was working with now, at least for the time being. Hopefully it wasn’t too off from where he was last.

Well, not like standing around would accomplish anything. He picked a direction and began to walk. Maybe there would be buildings nearby, or at least another person.

“Hello?” He called out into the meadow. “Anyone here? I think I’m lost!”

Axl continued to wander, yelling every so often in an attempt to attract someone’s attention. As it turned out, the meadow must have been massive, seeing as how he kept walking and never seemed to find an edge to it. 

He entertained the thought of investing in a timekeeping device so he would be able to keep track in these kinds of situations. He did have enough time to let his mind wander, so clearly it had been a while. Then again, that would also hinge on two things. One- he wasn’t even sure if that sort of thing was still legal with all that technology-banned-in-the-future nonsense (he still found it absurd), and two- if he was even still in the same time period that he thought he was. And considering that he had no idea where in the bloody fuck where or when he was, he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be answering that any time soon.

The sound of rustling caught his attention. It wasn’t his own footsteps, and the wind wasn’t blowing. Puzzled, and realizing that it could mean that someone else was nearby, he turned around in search of the noise.

“Hello? Anyone?”

He spotted a little lavender puffball wading through the grass. He was disappointed that it wasn’t actually a person, but found himself more intrigued by the oddly-colored fluff. It seemed familiar, but he couldn’t pin it down from a distance. He walked over to it, long legs far outpacing its tiny ones, and kneeled down, trying to get a better look.

“Hello, what have we here?”

“Miii?”

The purple puff ended up being some kind of silky wool. He’d stumbled across a stubby-legged sheep of some sort, though the vibrant color certainly wasn’t like anything he had seen before. 

“Hey, c’mere, lil fella.” Axl reached out and scooped the thing up, holding it in front of him. Now that he had a better look, it definitely seemed familiar in some way, as did the little black marks on its legs, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure it out.

“Mii-ii!” The little sheep bleated, wiggling around in his grip.

“Oi, relax, I’m puttin’ you down.” He sat down and placed it in his lap. He’d expected it to jump out immediately and trot off, but it seemed miraculously content with where it currently was, and quickly settled down in place.

“Freaky lil thing, aintcha?”

The sheep gave him a rude look, like it took offense to the comment. Still, it stayed where it was.

“Don’t gimme that look, not my fault you’re purple.” In some display of apology, he offered it a scritch behind the ears. “Why are ya purple, anyway?”

“Maa.”

“Serves me right for asking a sheep.”

As weird and disorienting as the situation was, he had to admit that there was something relaxing about tangling his fingers in the thick, furry wool. The sheep seemed to like it, at least, nuzzling its head against his leg. He noticed that it had an odd little pink something on its forehead, like an arrow. Had he seen that before? It really did seem familiar.

Before he could think about it too much, he noticed another little puffball trotting towards him. It in turn was followed by a similar sheep-like creature, but most of the purple, aside from the fur on its head, seemed to have been shaved away, leaving only a cream-colored undercoat.

“More of you? That’s just bloody weird…”

The shaved lamb took an interest in his arm, nibbling on his sleeve with tiny teeth. Axl shook it off, but offered it a pat to the head.

“Maa?”

“Same weird hair…” Even with what little fur it did have, it was in the same sort of style as the other two, short and sweeping. It even had the same arrow. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed, yet he still couldn’t put a name to it.

He tried to ignore them, but they very clearly disliked that, immediately climbing onto his legs to join their kin, and bleating loudly. Axl relented, trying to distribute enough scritches and pats to make them quiet down. Before he knew it, he had three dozing sheep in his lap, back leg twitching when he scratched the right place behind one ear.

“Buncha dumb furballs. Guess I’m not going anywhere…” Sure, he could have pulled them off, but where was he going in a hurry? He might not have known where he was, but a few wasted minutes wouldn’t be the end of the world. Besides, it was nice to be someplace quiet. And even if the sheep-things were weird, they were at least peaceful.

Axl leaned back into the grass, throwing an arm over his face to block out the midday sunlight. Beautiful day, too, for whatever that meant. For all the annoyances and inconveniences that he was constantly put through, at least it wasn’t raining.

Although, he could swear that something rumbled in the distance. It definitely wasn’t thunder, but he couldn’t pin it down. With the awkward position he was in, he couldn’t exactly turn around and look. Instead, he tried to twist his neck far enough, only to find his field of vision filled with purple and cream.

An entire swarm of tiny sheep were trotting over to him, with the sheer amount of them making the hoofsteps culminate into a low, thundering drone. Axl immediately tried to sit up, but despite their little legs, the sheep were quick, and he was overtaken.

Despite the sudden panic of being crowded by a mob of tiny, fluffy animals, he quickly realized that they weren’t trying to hurt him. For the most part, they just sniffed him curiously, with a few licking at his shins and others nipping on his zippers and dangling clothes. Even then, their teeth were too small and dull do really do anything aside from making them look incredibly silly.

The closest thing to harmful that they did was repeatedly nudge each other, trying to reach Axl’s hands to receive a pat. Apparently either they were attention-starved, or he was really good at petting, because they seemed almost too eager to butt against his hands and get scritched behind the ears, tails sweeping back and forth in anticipation. Some of them seemed too impatient to wait, instead climbing up on him like the first had and trying to find a comfy spot in his quickly overflowing lap.

Axl soon found himself with too many sheep to hold, and it was enough to knock him back over. They immediately pounced on the opportunity- or more appropriately, his torso- and tried to find new places to sit. 

Even with that, though, Axl realized that he was enjoying himself. The fur was soft, and their tongues tickled his skin. He found himself laughing until tears ran down his face, which one of them proceeded to try and lick up. The sheep didn’t ask anything of him, aside from some scratches and a warm thing to cuddle up against.

Eventually, they all seemed to be calming down and becoming drowsy from the clamoring. While Axl hoped that meant that he would be able to get up, the sheep didn’t get off of him. Instead, he remained surrounded by the little animals, with several of them slumbering away on top or half-leaning onto him. And even if he could sit and stand up, there was no way that he could walk out of the cluster without stepping on any of them. He’d managed to find himself trapped by a bunch of puffballs that barely came up past his ankles.

“Lil’ shits…” Axl relaxed into the grass. There was no point in trying to fight it. What harm would a little break do, anyway? It was nice to not have to worry for once. Maybe the sheep were onto something...

Smiling, he closed his eyes, feeling the sun’s warmth on his face and the purring snores of several dozen bizarre purple sheep huddled against his body.

Across the field, a quiet figure watched the goings-on with total bewilderment. Taking silent steps as to not arouse attention, Bedman approached the cluster and gave it an odd look.

_“Why do they look like me?”_ He thought, glancing at one of the nearby sheep. _“Extremely strange.”_

He had witnessed many odd dreams before, he was rather accustomed to it by that point. He’s approached the man’s dream out of curiosity, looking for something to take his mind off of the current events. Still, of all the dreams he’d seen, this one was on the weirder end.

_“Dreaming of sheep...how absurd.”_ He shook his head in dismay. _“I can’t begin to understand him. We really aren’t alike at all.”_

His attention was grabbed by something nuzzling against his ankle. He glanced down, only to find a fluffy lamb that had strayed away from the rest of the group.

“Go away.” Bedman scowled and nudged the thing off of him with a foot. It immediately trotted back, sitting itself down next to him. 

“I don’t have time for your shenanigans.” He crossed his arms and glared harder in an attempt to intimidate it.

“Mii?” The sheep tilted its head at him, looking no more intimidated than before.

“You aren’t going to...oh, fine.” The boy sighed in irritation, throwing his arms up. He picked the sheep up and gave it a look-over. He wouldn’t have considered himself as ‘cute,’ but he would admit that the small size and innocent appearance made the dream-animal aesthetically pleasing, almost adorably so.

Without really thinking, Bedman held it to his chest and began petting it. It did feel pleasantly soft, that was nice too. He felt the lamb trying to nuzzle against him, apparently content as it began to doze off in his arms.

“...Dumb furball.” He started scratching it behind the ears.


End file.
